The Complete Single Mother: Reassuring Answers to Your Most Challenging Concerns

A practical handbook for single mothers shares advice on such critical issues as time and money management, talking about a missing parent, child support, adoption, legal concerns, dating, holidays, former in-laws, and available support services. Original. IP.

The authors are single mothers whose state was unexpectedly thrust upon them by departing partners. Engber, founder of the National Organization of Single Mothers, is a contributing editor to Working Mother; Klungness, a psychologist, specializes in issues of single mothers. Together they have produced a frank and unabashedly feminist guide, the tone of which reflects the popular What to Expect series. No topic is off limits: there are tips on how not to fall to pieces when the baby starts saying "da-da" and even what to do when teenagers start worrying that mom will be old maid. Finances are approached in the chapter "Money Matters"; custody sharing, dealing with former in-laws and dating are considered in the section "Relating Joyfully to Others," which also includes the chapter "The Ex from Hell." There is an entire and encouraging chapter on raising sons. Breezy but always down-to-earth, this guide provides intelligent and frequently entertaining reading and offers much to mothers without-and with-partners.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"Traditional family" fanatics will hate this book, in which columnist Engber--founder of the National Organization of Single Mothers and SingleMOTHER newsletter--and psychologist Klungness offer other single moms some 400 pages of encouraging, practical advice on meeting the challenges of parenting without partners. In part 1, Engber and Klungness look at the various ways women become single mothers--through divorce, widowhood, adoption, donor insemination, or pregnancy outside marriage--and the special demands of each situation. In part 2, the authors focus on how single moms can handle pregnancy and birth, maintaining a household and maintaining their self-esteem alone, and in part 3, they talk turkey about the day-to-day difficulties of "raising terrific kids." They address in part 4 relations outside the family unit: with a supportive (or not-so-supportive) ex; with relatives and ex-relatives; with friends, other single moms, coworkers, "dates," and new partners. Full of helpful sidebars--checklists, do's and don'ts, tips on dealing with everyone from nosy neighbors to public agencies--and answers to questions from readers of Engber's newsletter and column, it belongs in most libraries. Mary Carroll

With more than nine million American women raising children alone by choice or out of necessity, it is surprising that most books on pregnancy and parenting still assume that the two-parent family is the norm. These two manuals written by single mothers offer useful, practical advice for women raising children alone. They include information on medical care, financial management, legal matters, career planning, social life, support networks, and dealing with family members. The Tippinses' book deals only with pregnancy and the baby's first year. It is organized chronologically by pregnancy trimester so that women can be prepared for the child's arrival. It includes sample agreements for women using sperm donors and co-parenting agreements, as well as a bibliography and resource list. The budget-planning advice is excellent. Engber and Klungness, writing in the tone of self-help books, cover the same topics, but they place more emphasis on the mother's self-esteem and other psychosocial issues. They also include child-development and parenting information about older children as well as a bibliography and resource list. Both books are more comprehensive than Jane Mattes's Single Mother by Choice (Times Bks., 1994) and Caryl Walker Kruger's Single with Children (Abingdon, 1993). They are highly recommended for all parenting collections.?Barbara M. Bibel, Oakland P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.